The R&D 100 Award winners are selected by an independent panel of judges and the editors of R&D Magazine. "The winning of an R&D 100 Award provides a mark of excellence known to industry, government and academia as proof that the product is one of the most innovative ideas of the year," explained Lindsay Hock, R&D Magazine Managing Editor.

The PHOTON 100 detector is the first CMOS active pixel sensor (CMOS APS) based detector available on the market for crystallography. The PHOTON 100 represents a paradigm change in two-dimensional X-ray detector technology with respect to sensitivity, speed, dynamic range, resolution and detector size. The PHOTON 100 detector is based on a large, research-grade CMOS sensor with an active area of 100 cm2 that is four times larger than typical CCD chips used for X-ray detection today. This new CMOS detector offers detection efficiency significantly better than any other available detector. Also, because of the outstanding reliability of low-voltage CMOS technology, the PHOTON 100 is the first detector to carry a full 3-year warranty.

The PHOTON 100 was introduced at the 2011 Annual ACA Meeting where Bruker launched a new series of high-performance X-ray crystallography systems, including the D8 QUESTTM and the D8 VENTURETM. Both systems incorporate next-generation X-ray sources and the novel PHOTON 100 detector to deliver unrivalled performance, ease of use, reliability and value. The D8 QUEST is a compact and economical, yet high-performance, single X-ray source configuration for typical applications in chemical crystallography, while the D8 VENTURE provides the platform for all dual wavelength combinations for chemical and biological crystallography.

Dr. Michael Ruf, Global Product Manager for Single Crystal XRD at Bruker AXS, stated: "Fifteen years ago, Bruker pioneered CCD-based two-dimensional detectors that revolutionized X-ray crystallography. When we introduced the PHOTON 100 last year, we knew that CMOS technology with its advanced features and performance will again push the limits of what is possible in X-ray crystallography. We are excited that we are again at the forefront of X-ray detectors with even more powerful capabilities for the demands of modern research. Our customers expect cutting-edge tools and their response to CMOS technology is phenomenal. We are now shipping the majority of our crystallography instruments with PHOTON 100 detectors.”

Dr. Michael Wörle from the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences at the ETH in Zurich, Switzerland stated: “High-end Single Crystal XRD systems are of crucial importance for our ambitious research projects. When we heard about Bruker’s new PHOTON 100 detector we got very excited since we know Bruker is a detector technology leader. We immediately started the ordering process for a new D8 QUEST, which was installed as one of the first systems. By now, we have already obtained a number of exciting structures. In particular, the large 100 cm2 active area of the PHOTON 100 detector helps us to accelerate obtaining the high data quality we need to publish the complex crystal structures from our ever smaller and more challenging crystals.”

Professor Hansjörg Grützmacher, Chairman of the Laboratory of Inorganic Chemistry at the ETH, added: “In short, in private life we cannot afford riding a Ferrari but we are happy to spin our crystals on the ‘Ferrari of diffractometers’.”

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